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Cab drivers go on patrol

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoCOURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCHRick Brown of Yellow Cab of Columbus notes a camera mounted inside one of the company’s 130 vehicles to help document crimes that occur within view. Yellow Cab said yesterday that it is partnering with the Columbus Division of Police and the Franklin County sheriff’s office to fight crime.

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Taxi drivers already serve as informal lookouts for police agencies. They drive all over
Franklin County and can be the first to notice dangerous situations.

But for the first time, a Columbus cab company will formally become a “block watch on wheels” by
bringing a national safety program here.

The Taxis on Patrol initiative was announced yesterday. It creates a partnership between Yellow
Cab of Columbus, the Columbus Division of Police and the Franklin County sheriff’s office to fight
crime where the taxis travel.

“We travel 7 million miles annually,” said Jeff Kates, company president, during the event
announcing the program. “Our drivers can and do see quite a lot. … If you see something, you say
something.”

Specially trained Yellow Cab drivers will report suspicious activities to police as part of the
program. Cameras — similar to dashboard cameras in police cruisers — are being installed in each of
Yellow Cab’s 130 vehicles to help document what happens and to protect the drivers from crime, he
said. The cab company will foot the bill for the installations.

Columbus police have helped develop a video and other training materials to show drivers what
they need to do, such as how to accurately describe a suspect. The materials also show what not to
do, including getting personally involved.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to have this partnership,” said Columbus police Deputy Chief
Richard Bash.

United Dairy Farmers stores have agreed to serve as “staging areas” for the drivers. They’ll
have a place to park, and their presence might help deter crime at those stores, said Carl Rankin,
senior security specialist for UDF.

A version of Taxis on Patrol has existed since the 1970s, when a New York suburb first used cab
drivers to report crimes. In late 2010, the Maryland-based Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit
Association decided to revitalize the program for nationwide use.

Since 2011, cities in Colorado, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi — as well as Toledo — have
announced the creation of local Taxis on Patrol.

Norman Scroggins, a Yellow Cab driver, already has completed the training. He said that the
formal program began for him yesterday, as soon as the public announcement was made.

But not long ago, he called police “the way any decent person would” after seeing a
domestic-violence incident from his taxi, he said. The program’s training will allow him and others
to be of even more assistance to police.

“I have a mother and a sister,” he said. “I would want someone to help them.”